In the 50 years that separated HMS Warrior from Dreadnought there was a revolution in warship design unparalleled in naval history. It was a period that began with the fully rigged broadside ironclads and ended with the emergence of the great battleships and battle cruisers of World War I. Noted naval historian D.K. Brown explains how the Victorian Royal Navy, far from being the reactionary body it is often depicted to be, was, in fact, at the forefront of technological change.

David K. Brown was a distinguished naval architect who was Deputy Chief Naval Architect of the Royal Corps of Naval Constructors. He published widely on the subject of warship design, including The Grand Fleet[5]. He died in 2008.